We here like to talk about the reality based world, and more than a few kossacks are looking forward to 2010 when the RepubliCons will continue to slide into irrelevancy as the party of anti-intellectual, race-baiting, eco-hating, information adverse, paranoid and greedy ponzi scheme 'n dream'n folks that time has passed by.
Obama, and the Democratic party have been given a big mandate for change and I am hopeful that change will happen. But if Congress and the new President are too cautious, I'm afraid that we will see wasted opportunities by those who thought they had time and mandate to change, when in fact they had but a brief moment of the normally easily satisfied country's attention.
Consider if you will, the following tale of caution. I hope it might be appreciated by those who have worked close to, or at the top of a multi-m/billion corporate food chain, and those who can imagine that all big corporations are governments in miniature. The tale is of a journey that involved 3 bullets, a suicide and several executions. Well, metaphorically speaking...
Once upon a time, there was a large company that embarked on a dubious mission of corporate "re-engineering." Re-engineering, in it's grandest sense, involves reinvigorating and optimizing all facets of a corporation -- from identifying customers to taking and shipping their orders and all points in-between: product development, manufacturing, planning, finance.... During a decade long career as a product engineer, I had spent several years gaining credibility as an information and cross-functional business process extrovert and was subsequently invited to represent engineering's function in our company's grand effort. Little did I know the eye-opening political experience I was to embark on.
Corporate CEO to Corporate Re-Engineering V.P.:
Our company is inefficient, you will lead a program that will effect everyone's jobs. You will have to fight through the friends of status quo, of NIMBY, of ignorance and indifference, of arrogance and obstinacy. Besides my public encouragement, you will need and have 3 bullets to use in your mission to remove ANY obstacle from your path, no questions asked. Use them wisely!
On face value, the re-engineering V.P. seemed a decent choice to lead the effort to change how our company worked. His managerial style was blunt and tactless, but he usually had good people working for him and often delegated his power to the next level or two of management staff -- just get it done and don't give me excuses was his hallmark.
But a strange thing happened, as the re-engineering project started to collide with all of the various agents that resist change, the seemingly fierce V.P. started to show hesitation.
V.P. in charge of re-engineering:
Play nice with everybody -- our solutions to re-inventing this company must be bought off on by all of the big-name directors and V.P.s, else we must be doing something wrong.
And so the staff tried, they were very successful in gaining support for global change from the employees engaged in daily work, but management "silos" who wanted only "the right kind of change" were busily ignoring the corporate initiative and inventing their own solutions to their own problems while promising that they'd get on board when they were able. These silos went largely unchallenged, and their leaders made visible efforts to undermine the re-engineering leadership whilst publicly issuing insincere words that "we're all in it together."
Ignoring those of his staff that urged to push forward with strong changes leveraging the corporate mandate for such, the V.P. of re-engineering attempted to placate the unruly silo owners by giving them pieces of the re-engineering solutions that were not plug-n'-play with the overall plan of change.
I cannot afford to piss these people off, we need them for when the BIG change happens, we'll piece this thing together after we get some momentum!
I'm sure many of you can guess the ending, and perhaps you have been involved in this all too familiar scenario yourselves once or twice. Chaos ensued and 10's of millions of dollars and 2 years of effort were flushed. As dark-comedy legend has it, the 3 bullets that remained unfired during the re-engineering project were used by the V.P. of Re-Engineering to shoot himself once he was notified of his dismissal from the 'most important undertaking of the corporation in decades'.
The most visible management critic of the re-engineering program (a psychology major profoundly proud of her ignorance while convinced of her leadership skills) proceeded to terminate the careers of several of the highest leaders of the re-engineering team and the project was deferred to be revived at a later date when it would be more convenient for the real leaders to do it the right way.
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The RepubliCons and the blue-dogs did a fine job resisting anything that could be vaguely construed as progressive during the Clinton years. Health care reforms, nah. Gays in the military, nah. After failing early on, BillCo hewed to the center and pondered on "what is 'is' ." Bang!
In contrast, G.W. did not get his agenda passed by playing nice with the Democrats nor even with many in his own party -- he had a vision he believed in and he had it executed. Bodies were left by the wayside scarcely noticed.
Have Obama and the Democratic leadership been taking notes? They best get a lot done, and a lot undone within 18 months or we'll see how outdated that fine chameleon of the GOP really is in 2010. It would be so nice to see history in the making rather than a repeat of history delivered, sooner or later, to the GOP on a platter of compromise.